Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Behind the Demise of Somali Pirates

By Eliza Ronalds-Hannon

After dominating news cycles and captivating fans of maritime drama for the past five years, it appears the Somali pirates' reign of terror may be over. In 2012, seaborne hijackers captured only five vessels, compared to 47 in 2010 and 25 in 2011, which was a year that saw a record 176 attacks.

"The numbers speak for themselves," said Timo Lange, Media Operations Officer for the EU Naval Force in Somalia, who said the decrease points to "the downfall of piracy." It began last summer, he said, and was a result of efforts in both local and international enforcement, as well as elective changes adopted by the private shipping industry. The way they teamed up to solve this seemingly impossible problem will likely serve as a prototype for managing such threats in the future.

To begin, international authorities stepped up their collaborative efforts, putting an emphasis on long-term intelligence-led operations rather than isolated shows of force. The EU Naval Force (EU NavFor) now receives Intel from NATO, the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), and the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre. That continuous flow of communication helped authorities keep track of trends and predict future actions, said Lange. "It enables us to have a much better picture of the situation internationally than when everybody works for himself," he said. That makes it easier for the agencies to stay a step ahead of the hijackers and help prevent attacks.

And their efforts at prevention received a boost in March of last year when the EU NavFor scored what Lange said was an important extension of its powers. A legal decision by the Council of the European Union granted the agency the right to destroy pirate supplies it encountered on shore, whereas previously that power was limited to the open waters. On May 15, the Force performed its first shoreline operation, destroying via aircraft a cache of equipment on the coast of Somalia where it had been gathered by pirates in preparation for a mission.

In addition to governmental efforts, the private sector moved to collaborate on fighting piracy. Shipping lines adopted en mass a comprehensive set of "best management practices" (BMP) for merchant ships, produced collaboratively by about fifteen private shipping industry and governmental organizations. Most important among them were guidelines for radio communication in the event of an attack, and directions for on-board security.

The BMP urged ships to set up physical barriers – razor or barbed wire around the ship's perimeter or high-pressured hoses – and to hire armed guards. Ship owners followed that advice. Although sea crafts in distress can theoretically rely on the support and protection of the navies that commands whichever waters they navigate, the reality is that there is rarely enough time for a third party to respond during an attempted hijacking. Hiring guards is a pricey investment for ships' owners, but is considered a worthwhile form of insurance, as no vessel with armed guards has yet to be pirated. "Pirates are deterred by this," said Lange. "As soon as they encounter a little bit of resistance, they will just look for easier prey."

The BMP also offers advice on the most strategic way to maneuver out of the path of an attack ship and guidelines for setting up a citadel, or safe room.

As the third part of this winning trifecta, Lange said, Somalian local authorities have become active in fighting piracy from within the country. Lange cited as an example the coastal town of Eyl, which was for years a pirate haven because of the town's history. Eyl, a fishing community, welcomed the early-2000s development of piracy because early pirates primarily acted to keep commercial fishing companies from poaching the town's livelihood. But, forces from the Somalian state of Puntland, of which Eyl is a part, managed to rid the area of pirate groups recently in a concerted military push, according to Lange and other officials.

Wrapping up the year on a triumphant note, maritime police in December freed the 22 sailors held hostage on the MV Iceberg I, which had been hijacked by pirates for a record 33 months.

But experts also warn against making too much of recent events. Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the director of the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre, stressed that it is too soon to declare total victory over Somali pirates. The summer rainy season may have skewed statistics, he said, and though the fall season proved quiet as well, he cautioned that it may take a few months still to offer a conclusive opinion on the state of piracy. Plus, many ships hijacked in recent years are still at sea, filled with hostage sailors only hoping they'll share the final fate of the MV Iceberg.

And another recent development may affect the long-term survival of these renegade seamen. In September Somalia held a national election for the first time in over 20 years, and many Somalis are hopeful that the new president, Hassan Sheikh, will help curb the government corruption that has propped up piracy for the past decade. "They're optimistic," said Captain Mukundan. "He is new to politics, and they like that he isn't part of the establishment."

But the culture of government corruption in Somalia is deeply entrenched, and most experts are much more cynical. "I don't think any change in the Federal government, especially a cosmetic one such as this, will have much of an effect on piracy," said Jay Bahadur, an author who spent several months living with pirates in Puntland while he wrote his book The Pirates of Somalia. "The TFG is largely irrelevant in the fight against piracy, as they have never had effective control over any of the territory from which the pirates operate."

More likely, the pirates will change their tactics in the face of these new obstacles. They have adapted to changing conditions in the past, Bahadur said, and this time that could mean simply using heavier weapons.

Or it could mean getting in to a different business altogether. A June report by the U.N.'s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group suggests that strengthened anti-piracy enforcement may be behind the increase it's seen in kidnapping for ransom on land. The trend toward such kidnappings "accelerated in September 2011," according to the UN's report, when "foreign tourists, aid workers and a journalist were abducted in Kenya and Somalia before being transferred to the custody of Somali pirates."..via OCCRP

MoS Moments of Silence

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

Designation of Al-Shabaab

When our world changed forever

Al-Shabaab

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

SOMALI REPUBLICANS

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Somalia

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The Foundation is dedicated to networking like-minded Somalis opposed to the terrorist insurgency that is plaguing our beloved homeland and informing the international public at large about what is really happening throughout the Horn of Africa region.

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The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.